IT HAS TAKEN Vincentian, Kaman Greene just six years to become a fully certified umpire, eligible to stand in matches in the regional West Indies Cricket tournaments, and even at the highest level.

Greene, who is a teacher by profession successfully passed his level three examination recently, thus gaining his full umpire status.

But for him, it has been all about contributing to the development of Cricket here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, first and foremost.

“It is a good feeling to pass and even if I had failed, I would have gone and do it over, as the main objective, and what I want, is to contribute as much as as possible,” Greene told SEARCHLIGHT.

Considering himself a go getter, Greene said that after he called it quits in Cricket at the local level as an active player, he endeavoured to stay in the sport, hence umpiring was his first and obvious choice.

“When I started umpiring, I said once the available training is there I wanted to be part of it , so it was not a matter of choice, it was just natural, therefore as an educator, I always try to get to the top as much as possible in the academics”, Greene said.

He pointed out that he is not getting ahead of himself and going after lofty ambitions in umpiring, acknowledging that the waiting list is long for him and others to break through to the regional level.

“I am a faith person, so wherever it takes me, I will go…Whatever training needs to be done, I will get it done, so whatever level that lands me I will take it but it will be lovely to go as far as possible,” Greene related.

He said that part of his mantra is staying as focused as much as possible and being impartial.

“What I try to do best is to stay focused as long as possible and be fair as I can be and it should be… I am not carried away with crowd”, Greene emphasised.

Greene joins four other umpires from the St Vincent and the Grenadines Umpires Association, who have been elevated.

Resulting from examinations done in August this year, Anneshia Richards and Rudy St John passed Level One of the Windward Islands Umpires Association, while Andy Baptiste and Olanzo Bellingy were successful after successfully writing Level Two of the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association exam.

The successes of the five local umpires in their regional examinations has brought delight to the fraternity, according to President of the SVG Umpires Association, Goaland Greaves.

According to Greaves “ This means that we are getting more qualified umpires… This is a result of the extensive training that we have been doing and we are heading in the right direction”.

“ I am happy that we have persons here who can sit and do the exams and more so, pass them,” Greaves emphasised.

He added that the overall aim of the association is to get more fully qualified umpires, hence they will be looking to recruit and train more persons to make this a reality.

St Vincent and the Grenadines has more than 20 fully qualified Cricket umpires, but only Deighton Butler is currently active at the regional first class level.